DETROIT, MI -- The Cinco de Mayo parade in southwest Detroit is a celebration of Mexican heritage and a show of pride for the cultural roots that many of the families living their share.

The 50th annual parade, however, was cancelled midway through after a 19-year-old Detroit man was shot following a dispute along the parade route near West Vernor and Ferdinand about 1 p.m. Sunday.

Police arrested the 24-year-old suspect immediately.

State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, (D-Detroit), a well-known leader in Detroit's Mexican-American community, called it a "sick" tragedy that "is going to hurt the whole community."

She said the day began with beautiful weather and droves of families, "four or five times more kids than adults."

It was the politician's seventh time riding in the parade. She brought along her children, 3 and 9. Her float miscalculated how much candy they'd need and ran dry by the time the parade was cancelled.

"We were only about halfway through when we heard about the shooting and I instantly called some of the community leaders that were in the parade," Tlaib said. "I'll tell you, it shook a lot of us. We were shocked because at one moment, all of the sudden it was completely halted and we looked around and all we could hear was sirens and we were being rushed to the side (of the road) so police and EMS could get through there."

Tlaib said the Cinco de Mayo parade is one of the few events she takes her children to. "

It's something very positive, something that they can be happy about, their culture and their heritage," she said. "And then someone goes out and does something this sick during a family event."

Detroit Police Officer Adam Madera says the suspect and a relative of the victim had an altercation just prior to the shooting.

"I heard the shot and I ran to see what happened because I knew my
nephew was standing in that area and it was him on the ground," said
Melisa Galvan, who claimed to be the victim's aunt. "There's so much
stuff going on in these streets that it could have been anybody, if not
him, anybody.

"That's why I try to tell these kids to stop this. It's getting out
of control ... these kids are dying and my nephew wasn't even in a gang."

The victim's aunt said her nephew was a father and expecting a second child.

The future of the parade is undetermined.

"We are devastated about it and the committee our condolences go out
to the family of the young man who we believe has died, even the
shooter," said Belda Garza, a co-president of the Mexican Patriotic
Committee that planned the event. "When something like this happens it's
a tragedy for both people involved and for our community. We were celebrating our 50th anniversary and, in fact, it was going to be the best parade we've ever had.

"We're going to have to review what happened and go from there," Garza
said. "Stray bullets fly around and there was a lot children a lot
elderly people ... and we don't really want to be involved in anything
that might hurt other people."

Tlaib said this isn't the first time violence has affected the southwest Detroit Cinco de Mayo celebration.

A festival that traditionally followed the parade at Clark Park, complete with elephant ears, cotton candy and Mexican dance and song, was cancelled beginning in 2009 due to concerns over gun violence, she said.

"I'm just praying that people will start looking at gun violence differently and understand that, especially at a parade, for something like that to happen, it impacts a lot of us," Tlaib said.

She said there was an abundance of visible police from multiple agencies in attendance as well as plain-clothes undercover officers.

"I know that, literally, at every intersection there was police presence,' Tlaib said.

Madera estimated 75 to 80 officers were specially assigned to patrol the parade.